Posts Tagged ‘mazda mx-5 miata’

Mazda prices the smaller, lighter, sharper 2016 MX-5 Miata at $24,970 in the US, plus $820 destination. That’s just $1,000 more than the outgoing car, and it comes with a six-speed manual transmission.

Mazda pledges to bring a new Club Edition of its MX-5 Miata roadster to the New York Auto Show next week. The name sounds promising, but the Japanese automaker isn’t saying much about what we should expect.

Sergio Marchionne confirms that the 124 Spider is the name for Fiat’s forthcoming roadster. The Italian sports car almost certainly shares a platform for the latest Mazda MX-5 Miata and reportedly debuts some time in 2016.

Autocar is the latest with another rumor about a Mazda RX-7 revival, saying Mazda is planning something “significant” for its 100th anniversary in 2020. Reading between the vague lines, however, we wouldn’t get our hopes up.

Wondering what the new Mazda MX-5 Miata would look like with, say, an aero kit, BBS alloys and Brembo brakes? Wonder no longer, friend, and feast your eyes on this show car Mazda brought to the 2015 Chicago Auto Show.

Now that 2014 is officially in the books, it’s time to look ahead. We’re now setting our sights at the hot new metal that’s coming our way in 2015, and here are the cars we’re most looking forward to driving.

If you’re into video games, creativity, the Mazda MX-5 Miata and South by Southwest, then there’s a contest in Forza Horizon 2 you’ll want to know about. Called the Livery Design Contest, your job is to head to Xbox Live sometime before midnight on January 4, 2015 and design a paint job for the 1994 Miata in the game. A panel of judges will evaluate designs for originality, aesthetic design and technical proficiency, and settle on up to five semifinalists who will regroup in the next round, which is public voting.

Come January 26, the public can begin voting on its favorite design until February 12, to narrow the semifinal pool down to two. Those two will be flown to South by Southwest in Austin, TX – which happens from March 13-22 – and one of them will be crowned the winner. Said winner will lumber away from the event with $3,500 worth of prizes, including a 55-inch curved-screen television, and their livery will be free to all of the minions playing Forza Horizon 2.

We’re not going to lie to you. The reason you’re seeing the fourth-generation Mazda MX-5 Miata on these pages again is solely because this is the first time we’re seeing the roadster displayed in a color other than the ruby shade it was first shown in. Okay, okay, so this is the first time the Miata is being displayed at a North American auto show other than SEMA, and we’d say that this is the first time Mazda is showing a US-spec model, but clearly this is a right-hand-drive car. Either way, there’s still not much to it yet, especially since Mazda is still withholding power and performance figures.

As expected, the ND Miata, as it is already known among the cognoscenti, will receive a 2.0-liter Skyactiv four-cylinder and the buyer’s choice of a six-speed manual or a six-speed automatic here in the US. The 1.5-liter model engine that had been linked to the car back in the rumormill stage will not make it to our showrooms.

Preliminary specifications still show the Miata measuring just 154.1 inches in length overall, with an increased track width to 68.1 inches and a low, low overall height of 49.0 inches. Despite the larger-displacement engine and its presumably heavier weight, Mazda is still claiming ideal 50:50 weight distribution and a weight loss of over 220 pounds versus today’s NC generation. All of which sounds like the Miata has the right ingredients to make good on its promised Jinba Ittai (“rider and horse as one”) driving experience.

In a temporarily repurposed airport hanger in Monterey, CA, the world caught its first glimpse of the 2016 Mazda MX-5 Miata tonight, and I was fortunate enough to attend in person along with my fellow auto media colleagues, Mazda execs, a couple hundred Miata devotees and, oddly, a fair number of Duran Duran fans. The klieg lights have dimmed, Simon Le Bon is no longer ringing in my ears, and I’m left to ponder what I’ve seen. I’ve scavenged my notes – and my Twitter feed – to give you some details and brief thoughts.

Fair Warning: I can’t claim to be completely impartial (I own a second-generation NB and consider the Miata franchise to be one of but a few sacrosanct franchises in modern motoring), but I will share my honest first impressions of the new car, both good and bad.

Here are my notes:

2,200 pounds. That’s roughly what this car will weigh if we can take Mazda at its word that it has managed to cut over 100 kilos – 220 pounds – versus today’s NC Miata. Given that this car will almost certainly be safer, stiffer, better equipped and more refined, that’s incredibly impressive engineering. In fact, that’s lighter than an NB generation car.

First Impression: The new car looks incredibly compact yet sinuous, with tightly snubbed overhangs what designer Derek Jenkins called an “impossibly low” hoodline – impressive in this day and age of pedestrian crash regulations. Largely free of adornments, I think this is a shape that will age well.

While still looking like a proper MX-5, this ND trades some of its predecessors’ occasionally cartoonish and friendly rounded lines in favor of something more aggressive.

Piercing stare from those small, lightweight LED headlamps contrasts with its large lower air intake.

Profile is clean with almost zero character lines but nice barrel to the doors and fenders, with prominent J-kick to doorline retained and better rear-drive proportions thanks to a more harmonious door line/rear wheel relationship. Fender-resident side lenses are a nice design detail that add visual thrust.